Tyr and Elm, owned by BW LPG India, a subsidiary of the well-known BW Group and BW LPG, have a total shipping capacity of more than 106,000 tonnes. File Image | Photo credit: Reuters
BW Tyr and BW Elm, two Indian-flagged LPG carriers, crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday (March 28, 2026), according to ship tracking websites. They were among five Indian LPG carriers berthed north of Dubai-Ras Al Khaimah on Friday (March 27, 2026).
P. Aliki, a Greek oil tanker with a capacity of more than 100,000 tons, also crossed the strait on Saturday (March 28, 2026). Chartered by Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, P. Aliki was loaded at Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia and is scheduled to dock at Karachi, Pakistan for offloading.
Tyr and Elm, owned by BW LPG India, a subsidiary of the renowned BW Group, have a combined carrying capacity of more than 106,000 tonnes. According to a reliable source, the two together are said to carry a cargo of around 93,000 tonnes – equivalent to three days of current LPG import requirements. While BW Elm’s intended destination was New Mangaluru port last week, Tyr’s was Mumbai.
Three other Indian LPG carriers moored southwest of the strait have a total cargo of approximately 80,000 tonnes of LPG. They are owned by the Great Eastern Shipping Company of India and the Indian operations of Mitsui OSK Lines of Japan.
Iranian authorities, which expressly allow ships to pass through the strait, insisted that the ships hug the Iranian coast and sail around Iran’s Larak Island to obtain visual confirmation of the vessel’s identity. “Ship tracking data shows that the three vessels that passed through on Saturday took a new route controlled by the IRGC around Iran’s Larak Island and through the territorial waters of the Islamic Republic as they sailed through the Strait of Hormuz,” said Toomer Raanan, maritime risk analyst at Lloyd’s List, a provider of news, analysis and data for global shipping.
Also read | 22 ships bound for India on the Hormuz evacuation list
Saturday’s (March 28, 2026) transit of two India-bound ships and one Pakistan-bound vessel came as a surprise as Iran had apparently rejected three China-bound ships on Friday (March 27, 2026). Two of them served Saudi ports. Iran has previously said that ships belonging to India, Pakistan, Iran, Thailand, China and Russia can pass through the strait.
Meanwhile, the Greek oil tanker Marathi carrying around 1 million barrels of crude oil from Ras Tanura docked in Sikka on Thursday (March 26, 2026) after passing through the strait last week. So far, six Indian LPG carriers have crossed the choke point.
Published – 28 March 2026 16:31 IST
